CBS NatSec Correspondent: It Looks Like ‘The Taliban Will Be Back in Power on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11’

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin grimly said that the fall of Afghanistan means “the Taliban will be back in power on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.”

Nancy Cordes reported earlier Sunday on the serious gains the Taliban has made the past few days. As of this posting, the Taliban has taken over Kabul and is inside the presidential palace, hours after President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.

Martin talked about the evacuations of U.S. embassy personnel and Afghan allies before Cordes brought up how “the speed with which the Taliban has retaken the country seems to have taken the Biden administration completely by surprise.”

She played June comments from Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying, “Whatever happens in Afghanistan, if there is a significant deterioration in security, that could well happen. We’ve discussed this before. I don’t think it’s going to be something that happens from a Friday to a Monday.”

“And yet, that’s exactly what has happened, from a Friday to a Monday,” Cordes remarked.

Martin said everyone is surprised “by the speed of this collapse,” including the Taliban.

They must be pinching themselves right now at the speed of this Afghan collapse. When President Biden made the decision in April, the absolute worst-case scenario was the government would collapse within three to four months of the withdrawal. The withdrawal, for all intents and purposes, was done on July 4th, five weeks since then. So, even the worst case was off. And then, you know, last week started with this alarming estimate that the capital could be under threat in thirty days. And here we are seven days later, and the Taliban is at the gates of Kabul. And it’s looking very much like the Taliban will be back in power on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

You can watch above, via CBS.